Marks & Spencer, Eileen Fisher and Arket – the lifestyle concept store from H&M, recently launched the first ever commercial garments labeled with the voluntary Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) from Textile Exchange. H&M has committed to only using RWS or recycled wool in all of its products by 2023.
RWS is a voluntary global standard that addresses the welfare of sheep and the deals with the environmental impact of the land that they graze on in a bid to ‘improve best practice’ among woolgrowers. Launched in 2016, the RWS has since been adopted by the Argentinian wool industry and also been backed by a number of other brands including Patagonia, which has also adopted the standard.
Eileen Fisher’s recently released RWS certified garments were made of wool from New Zealand and Argentina, while the M&S certified range can trace its roots back to Wools of New Zealand, including Palliser Ridge.
Yet although there are RWS certified wool farms in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States, Argentina and Uruguay, the standard has been met with some resistance among woolgrowers – particularly in Australia, which is by far the world’s largest producer of merino wool for clothing.
